Gaffey Under Investigation

A veteran Democratic state senator double-billed the state and his own political action committee for thousands of dollars’ worth of expenses for travel and posh hotels over a four-year period, state records show.
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“This was not intentional,” he said. “There were a number of trips that just got by me. … I feel very badly about it. It’s embarrassing.” (Lender)

7 responses to “Gaffey Under Investigation”

I am shocked – SHOCKED – that Sen. Gaffey would engage in something so unscrupulous. Didn’t he abuse his CRRA credit card, double bill the state for mileage, sleep with a lobbyist…and now this? The best part is his expressed willingness to simply “forfeit” the remaining $20k in his personal sluch fund to make it all just go away. Yeah, I’m sure it was all just an oversight by poor, beleaguered Tom, who just has so much on his plate – A Quasi state job, a part time legislative gig, and he is in addition expected to keep accurate track of all the lobbyist money he is skimming for personal use out of his PAC.

You can always tell the difference between a scandal in business and a scandal in politics by the amount of money.

This guy is alleged to have falsified a few thousand in expense reports. Remember Rostenkowski. That guy stole stamps. Ollie North had an electric fence put up around his house for a few thousand bucks. John Rowland had what, a new bathroom built on his house. When was the last time a political scandal involved enough money to buy a new Buick?

Now take the business world. Bernie Madoff frauded people out of $50 billion. Now, if he had to fraud that much out of mileage receipts, like this guy Gaffey did, he’d have to turn in receipts showing he drove 86 billion miles at last year’s rate of $0.58 per mile. That’s about 12 round trips to the planet Pluto. Well, Pluto’s not a planet anymore.

Remember the dude from Tyco, Dennis Koslowski. He had a party in Sardinia with fountains of alcohol.

I’m not saying that politicians that steal should go unpunished or anything. I just think it’s sort of interesting that political scandals usually involve such pittances.

He has never been sworn to uphold the public trust nor stood for election by his peers.

At least with Rowland one could say that he didn’t have a pot to piss in, with a $75,000 per year job and a $43,000 per year alimony. But Gaffey suckles at the public teet in three ways:
1) His legislative salary and benefits
2) His state agency $100+K per year job
3) His state university system paramour

I’m not saying that politicians that steal should go unpunished or anything. I just think it’s sort of interesting that political scandals usually involve such pittances.

Violating the public trust is no pittance…… We trust billions to guys like this as well as the future of this state, and our kids. He didn’t just rip off his own PAC he ripped all of us off. Oh wait that’s right he was so busy he never noticed all this……..

Does a Democrat have to try to sell a senate seat to the highest bidder before what they do is not a pittance?

Al – Luckily, our public officials do not have the unchecked access to larger amounts of money. Otherwise, these crooks would make Madoff look like an amateur. But when an unscrupulous pol sees an opportunity to take even a little bit extra, they jump. It’s not so much the amount of the money, it’s just the notion of some type of entitlement that is galling. “I am poorly paid politican, struggling financially while I am entrusted with the huge responsibility to govern the masses – I should get MORE out of this”.

Al – Luckily, our public officials do not have the unchecked access to larger amounts of money. Otherwise, these crooks would make Madoff look like an amateur. But when an unscrupulous pol sees an opportunity to take even a little bit extra, they jump. It’s not so much the amount of the money, it’s just the notion of some type of entitlement that is galling. “I am poorly paid politican, struggling financially while I am entrusted with the huge responsibility to govern the masses – I should get MORE out of this”.

When they get caught it’s always a mistake or a simple oversight.
And now that he got caught, AND there’s public financing of campaigns, he’s willing to give up his PAC.